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If you are in Boulder, Colorado this Friday evening, August 10th, check out a great presentation by Team Atlas Shrugged at the REI store. Jarrod Skulavik, Steve Mestdagh, Johnny Lintott, Peter Brown, and Topher Downham were the 3rd place team in this year's Adventure TEAM Challenge. They will tell you stories from this amazing event and discuss training strategies. Alas, I'll be headed to Peru so I won't be able to attend.

Our second Soldiers To Summits program has been gearing up for months. Behind the scenes, we have been working hard on fund raising, developing the curriculum, and selecting the new team. Countless hours have gone into preparing for this new S2S program but until the entire team comes together, it almost doesn’t feel real.

I don't know Wesley but I find this story pretty remarkable. The idea of running at full speed and then jumping 22 feet, without being able to see where you are going, is a bit terrifying. But he won silver medals at both Athens and Beijing and now holds the world record for Paralympians. He will be going for gold in London and I bet he wins. Yet another person proving you can do great things when you believe there are no barriers in life!

My young friend Andrew Johnson will be heading to London to compete in the 1,000 meter rowing sprint. I've been fortunate to hike the Inca Trail in Peru and in the Dolomites of Italy with Andrew and can attest that he has the great attitude and spirit that it takes to be a world-class athlete.
Here is a TV news profile of Andrew and his rowing partner as the train for the big event. You can bet that I'll be cheering them on!

Here is a video of my first attempt at running the Colorado River in Glen Canyon. Things go pretty well...at first!
I did make it through with no flips or swims on later runs. But alas no video of that. Trust me!

I am incredibly frustrated. I’ve been training hard for over a year, preparing myself physically and mentally, so I can kayak the Grand Canyon. No blind person has ever done this before. And it’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever attempted. But I’m being held back by technology or, more specifically, the lack thereof. Imagine sitting in a boat with your eyes closed while riding an avalanche. The chaotic power is immense and the loud roar drowns out everything else.

I swallowed a lot of pride, not to mention a lot of river water, on my first visit to the National Whitewater Center. But a few weeks later, I returned for more. On that first trip, the very first rapid, called Entrance Exam, spanked me hard and I never made it past the first third of the Channel. So I was a bit apprehensive about returning to Charlotte for five days of whitewater training on the same man-made river.

I was about to post my trip report about our annual No Barriers "What's Your Everest?" climb of Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, which we held on on June 3rd. But an email from one of the participants arrived and it sums up why I do these things so well.

This amazing event keeps getting better and more inspiring! The sixth running of the ATC was the biggest yet, with fourteen teams from around the country. The new location near Fruita Colorado offered spectacular high desert terrain for an adventure race replete with steep rock walls for climbing and rappelling, world-class mountain bike trails and the spectacular Colorado River cutting through Ruby Horsethief canyon.

This week, I gave a talk in Hong Kong for a well-known company. It was a great opportunity to bring my family along to see some of the world. Emma and Arjun had to miss a few days of school but we feel this experience is worth it.
Happy Memorial Day!
Erik